page_title: Leopard 2
section_title: Leopard 2A6
hierarchical_section_title: Leopard 2 / Variants / Leopard 2A6
caption_attribution_description: Hellenic Army tank at the National Day parade in Athens.
context_page_description: The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. It is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon, and is powered by a V-12 twin-turbo diesel engine. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and 12 other European countries, as well as several non-European nations, including Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Singapore, and Turkey. The Leopard 2 was used in Kosovo with the German Army, and has seen action in Afghanistan with the Dutch, Danish and Canadian contributions to the International Security Assistance Force, as well as seeing action in Syria with the Turkish Armed Forces against ISIS and the YPG.
  There are two main development batches of the tank: the original models up to Leopard 2A4, which have vertically faced turret armour, and the improved batch, namely the Leopard 2A5 and newer versions, which have angled arrow-shaped turret appliqué armour together with other improvements.
context_section_description: The Leopard 2A6 includes the addition of the Rheinmetall 120 mm L/55 smoothbore gun and other changes. All German tank battalions of the "crisis intervention forces" are equipped with the A6. Canada purchased 20 Leopard 2A6s from the Netherlands. These were delivered in 2007. Portugal also purchased 37 Leopard 2A6 from the Dutch in 2007, with delivery in 2008. In January 2014, Finland purchased 100 L2A6s, as well as munitions, simulators, and a ten-year supply of reserve parts from the Netherlands. The tanks were delivered in batches between 2015-2019.
  The Leopard 2A6M is a version of the 2A6 with enhanced mine protection under the chassis, and internal enhancements to improve crew survivability. In the summer of 2007, Canada borrowed 20 A6Ms from Germany for deployment to Afghanistan. The Leopard 2 Hel is a derivative of the 2A6 that was ordered by the Greek Army in 2003 - the "Hel" stands for "Hellenic". The 170 tanks were to be delivered between 2006 and 2009. A total of 140 will be built in Greece by ELBO, which delivered the first units in late 2006.
  The Leopard 2A6M CAN is a Canadian variant of the Leopard 2A6M. Significant modifications include distinctive black boxes mounted on the rear of the turret bustle, and stand-off slat armour. The first tanks configured in this variant were 20 loaned from the German Bundeswehr in an effort to increase firepower and protection given to Canadian troops operating in the south of Afghanistan. The loaned tanks retain their German MG3 machine guns, the ex-Dutch tanks are also expected to retain their FN MAG machine guns due to commonality with Canadian stocks of C6 GPMG, itself a variant of the FN MAG. Due to the loaned status of the first 20 tanks, the air conditioning unit originally could not be installed as only minimal changes could be made (the crew wore cooling vests instead, and the turret's electric drive generates less heat than the hydraulic drive of the older Leopard C2). The loaned German tanks will be kept by the Canadian Forces and may be further upgraded, while ex-Dutch Leopard 2A6s were modified to German Leopard 2A6M specifications and used as restitution for the loaned tanks. Canadian Leopard 2s in Afghanistan were later fitted with air conditioning units (a much needed commodity in the scorching desert of Afghanistan) and Saab's Barracuda camouflage mats, which also serve to reduce solar loading by 50 percent.
  The Leopard 2A6TR was the Turkish variant during Turkish Army's tank procurement project in the year 2000. The version was based on 2A6EX. The project was dropped in favor of developing indigenous Altay tank.
caption: Hellenic Army Leopard 2A6HEL in the streets of Athens
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